The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-10-27

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dozen eggs to the finest horse on his farm,
brings IN price when he sells il. from
htty to two hundred per cent. higher than
he ever dreamed of in free trade times,
while substantially every domestic article
he buys is from fifty to two hundred per
cent. cheaper, and at the same time from
fifty to FIVE hundred per cent. better in
quality: Facts # equal potency can be
cited without limit in favor of tee policy
OF protection in its effect upon all tre other
industries of the country
I:here, think that covers all the ground.
Governor Foraker goes on to calf it the
patriotic policy" &c, &c. Thiss nay be
safely admitted If the averments he makes
in the passage l have ouoted&are true.
Let US examine them:
Governor Foraker starts out by declaring
that mo one who can remember the weak
aud dependent condition of the country
In 1850 needs to be told how perfectly
free trade did its appointed work"
Well, Governor Foraker was a mere
boy In 1850. But three wears before
that, the Congress Of the United States
by great majority Of each House,
without distinction of party, declared
under oath that free trade was doing its
appointed work, so well that it was ex-
pedient to give the country further and
h1OAO OOIupitOe 1T6SUO01 u GISuo. WlaG 8
pity that Governor Seward and Henry Will
son and Henry Winter Davis did not have
this young son of Ohio, who remembers so
distinctly the condition of the country, at
hand to warn them of the folly they were
committing. The country weak and de-
pendent in 1850! Who ever heard Of it?
That the army and navy were small then
Is true. And they large and strong nowa
Well, all know they are not. There was
not then, as now, great mass of idle
money in the treasury. But there was un-
usual prosperity, and the fact that with
eleven States in rebellion the country was
able'to put the mightiest and best equip
ped armies into the field, and maintain
them for four long and terrible years
proves that the assertion that it was either
weak or dependent is not only untrue in
fact, but preposterous folly.
The census statistics show that agricul-
ture was never so prosperous. Manufac-
turing was increasing more rapidly than
ever before or since. Our shippingAnow
almost extinct-covered every sea. So
rapid was its growth that the London
Times declared that if it continued Amer
lean shipping would soon control lone
ocean and beth oceans, and all oceans;"
and enc of the great British magazines de-
clared that if the power of America con-
tinued to increase as it was then increas-
ing, in two generations the United States
would control the pubic policy of the
whole world. But in the opinion of the
Governor of Ohio, not only Congress but
the whole werld was mistaken, and we
were In reality in very bad condition, all
owing to the fact that we had the privi-
lege of selling in a dear and buying in q
cheap market.
The Governor g1es on to say: "On the
other hand, notwithstanding the wastes Of
the war, we have in twenty-six years
swelled the aggregate IF our wealth from
Sl4 600 600, 900 to $50, 600 600 000." These
figures sound very large, but where does he
get them? In 1860 the census estimates Of
the value of property in this country
was not $l4,t00,000, ,000, but more
than $4,000 100000 In 1880 the esti-
mate was $4,000, 600, COO. but this was
made vastly too great by making double
estimates of the many thousands of mil
lions of property. In 1860 the assessed
valuation of all the property in the United
total assessed valuation of all the property
in the Union was only SIC, ,902 99S, ,543.
The gain in twenty years had been less
than SIS 000, ,000,00 The total increase
in the twenty years was less than thirty
per cent; this was during high tarik
times. In 1850 the total assessed value Of
all tie property in the United States was
5000 Ill ,553; in 1850 it was Sl2,0Sx,-
560,005. The gain in the.ten years from
1850 to 1860 was good deal more than
&c. 900, 100000. This was during
ths much deprecated free trade
times, but during the ten years
the aggregate accumulation of wealth
exceeded by more than thousand millions
of dollars all that which was acquired By
many millions more of people, using bill
Ions more of capital in the twenty years of
high tariff between 1860 and 1880. Is il
any wonder that the statesmen in Congress
thirty years ago-not being deferred BY the
warning voice of Governor Foraker, con-
ceived that free trade was doing its ap-
pointed work. and doing it wellP
Now, if Governor Foraker will look at
the figures in the census reports he will
fnd that in assessed wealth, the people cf
the United States were largely richer In
pre- portion to population in 1850 than thsy
were in 1880. Governor Foraker gees On
to say that the remarkably prosperous